A Semblance of Magic
by Of Wizards and Phoenixes
Summary: Harry Potter is dead. Taking a stunning spell meant for your Godfather and being thrown through the Veil of Death wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he had woke up that morning, but what can you do? Now, offered a chance to return home only by completing a task set for him in another world, Harry must seek the power of the Gods who long ago deserted Remnant.
1. Death at the Department of Mysteries

The battle for the Department of Mysteries raged around him.

Harry saw the red streak of the stunning spell as soon as it left the tip of Bellatrix's wand. He watched as it flew across the room, seemingly shining brighter than the many other flashes, bolts and streaks of light that echoed around the room as the battle continued around him. Surely Sirius would see it? It was just a stunner, a simple charm stopped by a simple _protego._ He waited and waited, the entire thing moving in slow motion.

He wasn't going to notice it. The spell was too close to him now, there was no way he could react it time. Harry leapt into action, diving into his Godfather and knocking the man away from the entrance to the Veil, into which he surely would have fallen had the spell struck. He raised his wand and, with a scream, summoned a shield charm to stop the spell.

"Expelliarmus!" Lucius Malfoy's voice called above all the others in the room. The white light struck Harry moments before he could summon his shield. His wand clattered to the floor several meters away.

Time returned to normal.

He watched, helpless, as the battle returned to full speed. The dancing lights became viciously fast strikes between opponents battling to the death. The eerie silence that had descended was lifted, and the screams of triumph and pain mixed in the air and assaulted Harry's senses. The red light, which moments before had moved like a snail, now struck him like lightning.

He felt his body seize up, his legs and arms refusing to respond as he simply fell into the Veil of Death.

Harry Potter was dead.

He never expected to wake up, so you can imagine that when he _did_ wake up, it was quite the surprise. He was somewhere… white. There didn't seem to be any walls, but there was no sky either, nor a floor as far as he could tell. He was clearly standing on something, but there was nothing there except _white_.

"You are not supposed to be here, Harry Potter." A voice echoed from somewhere in the white mist that stretched as far as he could see. he couldn't tell if it was male or female, for it sounded like a hundred different voices all speaking at once.

"Yet, here I am" Harry replied.

"Your Destiny remains unfulfilled. You should not be here." The voice repeated.

"Yes well, quite clearly I am here. So we should move on from the my not supposing to be being here line. Where even is here?" Harry asked.

"You are here." The voice simply replied. "Here is here."

"What? I am not in the mood for riddles. Unless you are unaware, I just died!" Harry screamed into the white void.

"Yet you should not have. You must leave here Harry Potter."

That perked Harry's ears up. "Leave here? You mean i'm not, y'know, beyond or whatever?"

"No, you are here." The voice replied, the statement as monotone as all before it.

Harry sighed. He was not going to get an answer on that it seemed. "How do I leave?"

There was silence for a few moments. Harry finally decided to test his legs. He was slightly worried that he would fall, given that he appeared to be standing on nothing but white mist, but then again, he was currently standing on said white mist anyway, so either he was floating or the ground was solid. He took a cautious step forward, and when he felt something solid underfoot, he took another. Around and around he walked in the white mist, and yet, he only found more white.

"I cannot send you home, Harry Potter. It is not in my power."

Harry deflated. He felt the last vestiges of hope, a hope he didn't know he still held, seep from his body. It finally hit him.

He was dead.

There was no going back from this one. There was no tears Fawkes could cry, no time-turner he could spin nor portkey that could teleport him any from this new reality. This was it, it seemed. He was trapped here in this never ending whiteness forever. No more Hogwarts, no more magic. He would never see his friends again, no more Hermione, or Ron. Never would he see Sirius again, nor Dumbledore. This was it.

All there ever would be was this white mist.. He lashed out, letting out an almighty scream of frustration at the injustice of it all. _He_ was dead. Not Voldemort or Bellatrix, not that smarmy git Lucius Malfoy, nor any of the other Death Eaters! No, instead it was he, Harry Potter, a boy who had never wanted anything more than to be normal, that was dead. Killed for standing up when others cowered. He felt a famous fury, striking the mist with kicks and punches and all manner of profanity. It was pointless, but it was all he could do.

"I can however send you to someone who can return you to your world" the voice finally spoke again. Harry took a moment to process the words over his screams of righteous fury, but, as soon as he did, he fell still and silent. His breathing was heavy from the exertion.

"What?"

"Not just anyone can seek help from our kind, Harry Potter. You were my champion in the world you have just departed. Since you died, I cannot be the one to send you back, to do so would be direct interference of the kind not allowed by the rules of our existence. However, I can send you to another world. A world that, like yours, is in turmoil, although perhaps they don't know it yet."

"I was your champion? What do you mean? Who are you?" The voice's words had left Harry with more questions than answers.

"You heard the prophecy. I am the one who speaks through Sybill Trelawney."

"What? Like Destiny or Fate or something?"

"Yes."

"Am I dreaming?" Harry asked, exasperated. The voice did not answer and the silence soon stretched into minutes. Finally, it was Harry who spoke again. "How does sending me to another world help me get home to mine?"

"This world has powers in it equal to mine. They are awaiting return, the death of a dark lord who keeps them from returning to their world. I have a champion in this world already, and so I can send another, unblessed by my special powers, without fear of breaking any rules."

"What sort of special powers will I not have? My magic?"

"No, you will simply not be my chosen. You will find you are perhaps not as… what is the mortal word for it… lucky? Yes, I think that will suffice. You will not be as lucky you were previously."

Harry was gobsmacked, and perhaps justifiably outraged. He was about to scream about his luck when he recalled a phrase he often said when he described his adventures. "Honestly, I was lucky…" he breathed.

"You are undeniably brave, within your heart is a fierce warrior born for battle and to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Even the best mortals need a little luck, the favour of fate, or destiny as you call me. I cannot gift you this in this new world. That does not take away who you are though Harry Potter."

"Is this a game to you! My life! The life of your other so called 'champions'! I AM NOT A PAWN!" Harry's voice was horse from all the screaming he had done these past few minutes, and so the best he could manage in all his frustrated rage was a scratching screech that tore at his vocal cords.

"I do not control you, Harry Potter. You do not have to fight because I say so. Mortals are gifted with free will, it is your defining trait as a species. I merely make it easier for you to travel the path should you choose it."

Harry said nothing, unable to scream he preferred silence. Again the silence was allowed to draw on, minutes passing with neither Harry nor Destiny speaking.

This time, it was Destiny that broke the silence. "Do you accept my offer, Harry Potter?"

Harry didn't think about his answer. He had known from the moment it was floated as a possibility that he would do it. He could not leave his friends to suffer at the hands of Voldemort, even if it meant finishing a war he had no right being involved in in the first place.

"Yes," he forced out.

"Good. You will do well to be wary, Harry Potter. This world is just as dangerous, if not more so, that your own. The people who inhabit it have powers that can rival even your own in some ways. Seek out Ozpin, he is a good man, if a little slow to trust, and not always deserving of that trust himself." As Destiny spoke, a great golden light began to form in front of Harry. He could feel the power flowing from the shapeless mass of gold than slowly seemed to be morphing into something.

"Take this," Destiny said, "My final gift to you."

A sword, made of gold and silver metals and humming with power was now present in front of him. He reached out and grasped the handle firmly. The instant he did so, he felt a not unfamiliar pull behind his nasal.

 **A/N: Wow, this story has been up less than 24 hours and its received a ton of support! Thank you. If anyone is interested in checking out some my of my original work, you can find me over on Wattpad, my username is PhoenixWritings and my story is called The Devil's Pact.**

 **I will try and update this story at least once every-other week.**


	2. Breach

Harry landed with a thud.

His head was pounding, his muscles stiff as though he had just run a marathon. There was a strange sound ringing in his head, a screeching that sounded very much like an alarm. The thick smell of fresh smoke poured into his nostrils. He opened his eyes to see a city, not unlike ones he had seen in books back home. Except the city was on fire, the sound in his ears turning out to be an actual siren.

It seemed Destiny's description of a world on the brink of war was a bit out of date. The war was already here.

Opposite him there was a massive hole in the ground, surrounded by the wreckage of what appeared to be a series of train carts. Easily visible amongst the wreckage were four girls who looked to be about his age, maybe slightly older. Each girl was dressed in a different colour, red, white, black and yellow. They were scattered and dazed on the ground just like him, having been disorientated by the blast that caused the hole.

Suddenly, the wreckage blocking the gaping wound in the earth began to shake. A great force seemed to be striking it from below. The wreckage shook an shook until eventually it seemed to burst from the round, the head and body of what appeared to be a gargantuan black and white snake bursting from the below.

Following the snake came literally hundreds of similar creatures, great bear like beasts poured from the hole, accompanied by twice as many creatures that looked like werewolves, and an equal number of small warthog like monsters began to charge around the city unchecked. Harry was so overawed by this flood of monstrous creatures spewing forth from the wound in the city that he barely blinked when giant scorpion and bird like creatures joined the collection already assembled.

All around him the people going about their days seemed as fixated on the spewing mouth of creatures as he was. There was a collective silence amongst the crowd, broken only by the growls and screeches of the black and white monsters. Then, all at once, the crowd began to scream, running in every direction they could away from the creatures, who pursued relentlessly. In the centre of the small square of buildings, the four girls had gathered together, surrounded and seemingly in trouble.

Harry got to his feet, feeling the cool metal of his sword under his palm he gripped the blade tight and brought it up before him. He had only ever fought with a sword once before, during his battle with the Basilisk, and then he had only swung wildly until he saw an opening and thrust it through the creatures head. He didn't think that the gaze of these giant snakes was deadly however, given no one was dropping dead yet, and so he at least had that in his favour.

Harry reached down to his waist to draw his wand, only to find his pockets empty. What? He checked the floor around him, but there was no sign of the magic giving stick of wood that had been his companion these last four years. He remembered being disarmed by Malfoy, and so he could lament as he realised his wand was most likely discarded on the cold marble floor, another universe away.

There was a growl and out the corner of his eye he saw a mass of black leap at him. Reacting on an instinct he didn't know he had, he rolled under the werewolf like creatures strike, letting its razor sharp claws pass through the air above his head, before thrusting his sword deep into its stomach. He felt a pulse of power flow through the sword, and the werewolf burst into black dust.

By now the battle was in full swing. The four girls in the middle had gone their separate ways, each one fighting a miniature horde of the beasts by themselves. He watched as the girl in the red cloak seemed to move faster than anything he had ever seen, using the far-too-big-for-her scythe to carve her way through the beasts. The girl in white was fairing similarly well, using some sort of rune based power to summon ice and jump around her enemies, cutting them down with graceful precision… in fact they all were doing well. The girl in black seemed to be in numerous places at once, and the girl in yellow… was she on fire? Wow, she just flipped a car with her bare hands.

These people were strong, gifted with powers and magic capable of vastly enhancing their own impressive combat abilities. Were these four the guardians of the city? So young, just like him, and just like him they fought against overwhelming odds despite that young age. He could see all four girls were exemplary in their own right, but even still they were slowly losing to the sheer weight of numbers against them.

Harry quickly dodged to the side to avoid another werewolf, slicing the creature in half with his sword. He decided now was the time to help, ill prepared though he was. He spied a civilian pair, a mother and child, who had been stalked into an alleyway by a large bear creature. Immediatly noticing their lack of weapon, he streaked towards them.

He approached the creature without drawing its attention, which was focussed solely on its fearful and trapped meal before it. The black bear raised its deadly paw high and was about the strike when Harry leapt and drove his sword into the back of its head. He felt the now familiar pulse of power in his sword, and the creature burst into a strange black dust that disappeared into the wind.

"Come with me," Harry said, leading the mother and child out of the alleyway and towards one of the main streets, down which he could see more civilians fleeing. At the end of the street a few blue uniformed men and women, likely police or military, help a small makeshift line against the charging beasts with pistols and rifles. It was effective, but Harry could tell it wouldn't last long.

He took a swing at one of the warthog creatures as he passed, slicing into its stomach and bursting it to dust. "Go, down there," he said, gesturing towards the line of police he had spotted moments ago. With the mother and child on their way to safety, he returned to the main battle, ready to assist whoever he could. His intervention seemed unnecessary however, as a further four warriors, who he could best describe as a blonde knight, a red hoplite, a pink hammer wielder and green ninja arrived. This new group set about dispatching more creatures with the same efficiency, if not more in the case of the red haired girl, that the four girls already present.

Still, he could offer assistance. Harry charged back into the fray, slicing and stabbing at any black beast that dared to come within his reach. It was odd, although he had little time to dwell on it now, just how good he was with this sword. Perhaps Destiny had imbued him with the knowledge needed to wield it? Regardless, it did not matter now, for he was simply set about working his way through the ranks of monsters before him.

A roar echoed from behind him, and he turned to see one of the titanic scorpion creatures stalking towards him. He rolled away from its amber stinger on instinct as it crashed into the ground he had just seconds before occupied. With a burst of speed he slashed as its pincers, expecting the same result as every other time. Instead the blade glanced off the creatures thick bone armour. Dazed by the unexpected repealing of his attack, he could do little to save himself as the pincer flicked outwards, knocking him into the air.

The breath left his body as he landed several meters away. His entire body was certainly bruised and there was certainly a broken rib or two. He had seen the other fighters take similar hits to this and shrug them off, was it perhaps another power of theirs he did not know of? That knowledge would not help him now however, as the scorpion scuttled towards him with killer intent. He saw the stinger rear back, and, winded and injured as he was, he could do little to move in time.

The stinger plunged down. Harry closed his eyes.

 _No._

A voice awoke deep inside him. A voice he had heard before, an old friend who had seemingly been locked away. His eyes shot open as the scorpions stinger began to plunge through the air and, acting without conscious thought, Harry raised his right arm. A shimmering shield appeared inches from his face, stopping the stinger in its tracks. He seemed to lose all control of his movements, as though his magic itself had taken over. His pain disappeared as his left hand swept around, bringing a torrent of flames to bare on his attacker, burning it to dust in an instant.

A third group of warriors descended onto the battle, and overhead ships appeared that dwarfed the surrounding buildings. Hundreds upon hundreds of mechanical soldiers began to land amongst the creatures, coming to the aid of the few fighters currently present. A stern blonde woman, who appeared in little mood for discussion as she effortlessly swatted aside the attacking monsters, appeared and walked straight to the gaping wound, using her riding crop to direct the rubble back into the hole.

Harry hadn't even realised he was floating until he hit the ground and fell unconscious.

 **A/N: I would again like to thank everyone for their support. The reaction has been overwhelming these past 24 hours to chapter 1! Also, if you like my work here, don't forget to head over to PhoenixWritings on Wattpad to read my original work.**


	3. Ozpin

Harry awoke to a painfully bright white light.

 _Am I dead again?_ He thought. That certainly had to be some sort of record, dying twice within an hour of each other. He supposed however he always seemed to be for firsts.

Then he heard the beeping. It was a constant, steady rhythm, the sound was somehow familiar and comforting. Then he realised that, as far as he knew, there was no ambient sound to the afterlife. What was beeping then.

He took a second look at his surroundings, the violent white light had subsided as his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room. He realised he wasn't dead at all! Instead, he seemed to be in a hospital bed, the white sheets reminded him of the hospital wing back in Hogwarts, and yet he was hooked up to a series of electronic machines, one of which he realised was the source of the steady beeping as it monitored his heart rate. This was certainly unlike Hogwarts.

"Ah, you're awake," said a voice to his left. He hadn't even noticed the nurse there till she spoke. She left the room, and not two moments later, a different person entered. It was a tall man, with grey hair and spectacles that seemed too small for his eyes. He wore clothes of green and black, and carried a cane and coffee cup in his hands. For some reason, he very much reminded Harry of Dumbledore.

"Welcome back," the main said. "I hope you are feeling better?"

"Yes, I feel fine." Harry replied.

"That's good to hear," the man continued. "That was most impressive, what you did yesterday."

"I… I umm," Harry always hated this bit. "It was nothing."

"Quite the contrary young man. You destroyed several creatures of Grimm and escorted a family of innocent civilians to safety. You even managed to destroy a Deathstalker singlehandedly. Not many would have acted as you did, and you should take pride in that." His praise struck the same cord as Dumbledore's had done with Harry. It wasn't given for just anybody, and Harry felt his spirit rise at the man's words.

"Thank you, sir." Harry replied meekly, his head bowed. "Is everyone okay? What about those girls? Or the others who showed up?"

"Rest assured all is back to normal. The Grimm have been contained and the threat to the public removed for now. I can also assure you that both teams RWBY and JNPR are both perfectly fine." The grey-haired man drunk deeply from his coffee cup as he finished his words.

"Where am I?" Asked Harry again, determined to get the question in before the man could ask his own.

"You are in the infirmary in Beacon Academy. I had my staff bring you here as we are more accustom than most to dealing with aura-activated individuals, such as yourself." The man sipped from his cup, much shallowed than his last. "You can imagine the surprise of my medical staff then when it is discovered that your aura is currently not active." The man's stared pierced into Harry.

"Aura?" Harry stuttered, for it was all he could do. He had quite obviously been caught out, but he had no idea how, and certainly no clue what aura was.

"The manifestation of our souls, it protects our bodies from harm and manifests itself as our semblance. It is impossible to use a semblance without an active aura. Yet I witnessed you summon a shield of energy and unleash a torrent of flame from your bare hands. Where did you learn this power?" The man's stared seemed to dig even deeper into Harry. It itched under his skin and made him squirm.

"Hog-," Harry almost blurted out the words before he remembered that here, they had no meaning. "Trial and error." It was, Harry supposed, true in a sense.

"Hmm." Clearly, the man did not believe him. "Do you know who I am?"

"Not a clue."

"I am professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, a school for huntsmen and huntresses, individuals like those you fought beside yesterday." Ozpin! That was the name Destiny had given him. What was it Destiny has said about him 'a good man, but not always deserving of trust'. Harry had a few choices at this point, but he instead chose to just remain silent for the moment. "I must admit now that you know my name however, that I do not know yours," Ozpin finished.

"Harry Potter."

"Well, I must admit you are a most interesting man Mr. Potter. You clearly aren't trained as a Huntsman, yet you fight with the heart of one, and you clearly have the power needed to succeed in the role." Ozpin let the thought linger in the air. "Do you have any family we should contact, Mr. Potter?"

Harry's heart twanged painfully as he thought of his friends back home. "No, there's just me."

Ozpin drank deeply from his coffee mug as he considered Harry's words. Something about this boy intrigued him, and the power he had shown… he couldn't be a maiden, and yet there was seemingly no other explanation than magic. He would need to keep this boy close. If it was magic, and Salem learned of it… there would be no telling the danger the boy would be in.

"How would you like to come to my school, Mr. Potter?" He asked.

"I would like that very much sir." Harry leapt at the chance. It was just the in he needed with the man Destiny had said to seek out. It was also a chance to have room and board, something he was sorely lacking outside these walls. Even the mightiest heroes would die of starvation and he didn't much fancy sleeping rough on the strange streets of wherever he was.

"Well then Mr. Potter, welcome to Beacon. You will be joining the current first year class, and I think it prudent that you take a few private lessons to catch up. We would normally put you into a team, such as RWBY or JNPR who you saw during the battle. Given these teams have already formed however, you will simply have to go it alone until you can join the new lot of first years in the fall." Ozpin spoke so matter-of-factly that Harry hardly began to form any questions in his mind, so certain did Ozpin sound of everything. Still, he had a few thoughts than needed answers.

As if he knew his mind, Ozpin spoke again before Harry could. "I am sure you have many questions, and when you are better you may come find me and I shall answer what I can. For now however, rest and recover. Oh, and Mr. Potter, it would be best if you told anyone who asked that your power if just your semblance. For others to learn otherwise would be… unwise."

Harry gulped involuntarily, Ozpin clearly knew more than Harry had told him. "Yes sir, thank you sir, for the help, I mean."

Ozpin smiled. "My pleasure, Mr. Potter. I daresay we can expect great things from you."

With that, he left Harry to his thoughts.

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 **A/N: Hello everyone. Apologies the chapter is a bit shorter this week, I have exams coming up that are taking a lot of my time up. Still, after watching V6E12, i couldn't not write more of this!**

 **My GOD! I don't want to spoil anything for non-First members but well... Damn what an episode.**

 **As always, if anyone fancies supporting my original work, you can find it on Wattpad - The Devil's Pact by PhoenixWritings.**

 **See you again soon!**


	4. Up to Speed

It took a good few days, but Harry was, for the most part, finally settled in Beacon. He had been given a spare dorm usually reserved for visiting huntsmen of lecturers to use overnight. It was a lot smaller than the team's dorms, as was to be expected, and only had the one bed, but to Harry it was perfect.

It had taken his a few hours to get the room to his liking. He had arranged some furniture to give him a place for Hedwig's cage by the window, only to remember he did not have her with him. Similarly, he had, for whatever reason, cleared room on his bookshelf for his school books, only to once again remember he had nothing but Destiny's sword, and so he was left with a pathetically barren room.

Ozpin had told him that he would be undergoing a two week intensive course to get him up to speed on what they could, but he should expect to be lacking severally against the other students regardless. "You are at a severe disadvantage," Ozpin had told Harry, "but remember, you are here because you showed all the qualities of a huntsman. The rest will come… in time."

He had been training from 8am - 6pm every day for the past two days. Ozpin had dropped in several third and fourth year students to act as tutors between their own classes. He had learnt the History of Remnant and all about current events as well, the former being taught by a particularly energetic teacher called Professor Oobleck. He had studied Grimm relentlessly, two hours a day, every day with various students and the large Professor Port, who was more fond of anecdotal stories than actually teaching. Still, he had come a long way, and could now at least tell his Beowolfs from his Boarbatusks.

He had two other lessons daily, combat studies and aura classes, although they essentially rolled into one after Ozpin had personally unlocked his Aura. It was a magnificent feeling, unnoticeable really until a 6ft 4 monster of a fourth year who could give Hagrid a run for his money in terms of strength smashed him across the gym, only for Harry to get back up without so much as a bruise. It finally became clear how people ever managed to go toe to toe and fight the creatures of Grimm.

He had trained with a few students throughout the two weeks, a kind and very pretty first year, the red-haired spartan, who he now knew was called Pyrrha had actually been one of his sword tutors. There was also a fourth year called Diomendus, and a second year girl with rabbit ears called Velvet, who was his most common tutor due to the fact she seemingly knew every combat technique to have ever existed. Ozpin had also taken what Diomendus called a 'very personal' interest in Harry's training, going so far as to give him a personal lesson that lasted a good few hours. Harry of course never came close to hitting the man, but it was by far the most valuable lesson he had across these two weeks.

For the most part therefore, Harry felt that whilst, yes he couldn't begin to hope to match the current student's one on one, given that two weeks of training will never trump several years of intensive study, he could at least hold his own against lower Grimm. In fact, the only lesson he didn't feel confident in entering with the rest of the students was Dust studies.

Oh, the theory was… complicated yes, but nothing he couldn't in time, het his head around. However, he just didn't seem to be able to use dust. He had seen people replicate the power of magic with clever utilisation of dust, but, for whatever reason, the substance just didn't ever do what he wanted it. There was no other way to put it other than he had become Seamus, either he couldn't do anything, or he blew it up. He had so far encased himself and his teacher, the stern professor Goodwitch in Ice, as well as almost suffocating in a construction of earth. Fire was his best element, but that wasn't to say he was much better given he would have burnt all the hair off his upper body had he not had his aura unlocked.

The day had finally come however. Today was the day he would be joining the first years at Beacon in classes. He would still be receiving tutorship from several older students, but nowhere near as intense as he had been before. Instead, the idea was for him to slowly integrate onto the same schedule as everyone else.

Given he had already meet her during their combat training, Pyrrha had offered to accompany him for the day. She introduced him to her teammates, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, and her partner and team leader, Jaune Arc. The she had introduced him to some more of her friends, the four girls that comprised of Team RWBY, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Ruby had immediatly jumped at the chance to meet someone new, and began to bombard him with questions.

"Wow! That sword is soooooo cool? Does it have a name? What does it do?" She zoomed around him as she spoke, trying to look at the shinning blade from every possible angle.

Harry was caught off guard by the enthusiasm of this girl for weapons. She was so small and cute and just not what he'd have associated with a weapons nut. "Err, it's just a sword, really."

Ruby lost some of her steam, but not much. "Oh that's cool, a classic, just like Jaune's. Does it have a name? Mine's called Crescent Rose, and she's my baby". The girl unfolded her giant scythe in the far too small corridor, forcing everyone to take a step back as she coddled the death weapon.

Harry really hadn't thought about naming his weapon before this moment. He had noticed that almost all the students at Beacon had named their weapons, but honestly it just hadn't seemed like something he would do. After all, he hadn't named his wand had he? However, it now was becoming clear that naming your weapons wasn't just an accepted thing some people did, it was expected that he would have a name. He couldn't admit to not having a name for it yet, that would surely identify him as an outsider, and he was doing his best to just fit in. Instead, he gave the first name that popped into his head.

"Excalibur."

"That's a cool name. Did you make it yourself? What sort of metal is it made from? Can I-"

Harry was saved from the rest of Ruby's questions as the young girl was had an arm thrown around her shoulder by the blonde brawler of team RWBY. "C'mon sis, it's the guy's first day. Maybe go easy on him."

"Yang's right Ruby, and besides, if we stay here any longer we're going to be late for class." The white haired Weiss Schnee added her own voice into the mix.

"Class does begin in two minutes," Ren conceded.

"TWO MINUTES?" Weiss' eyes withered into Harry and Ren equally, as though they were the cause of them potentially being late to class. Admittedly, the interest around Harry was probably partially to blame, but he hadn't exactly forced them to stay and question him. "We have to go."

Like a bullet, the white-haired heiress disappeared down the corridor. Quickly, everyone else including Harry chased after her. It wouldn't do to be late for his first day of classes after all.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello one and all, I hope you enjoyed this latest update. I'm not overly amazed with the quality of this work so far, but it's nice to just have something to do between episodes to fill the RWBY void!**

 **As always, if you feel like checking out my own anime/LN inspired work, you can find it on Wattpad - The Devil's Pact by PhoenixWritings.**

 **Finally I AM HYPED for the finale this week.**


	5. Harry v Jaune

**Early because I don't beta this stuff and I was bored. It's like 2 days into Hiatus already and I haven't a clue what to do with myself. Anyway, here you go.**

* * *

Somewhat inevitably, Harry's first class together with the other first years was combat class. The sessions were taught by professor Goodwitch, the blonde-haired deputy-headmistress who sometimes reminded him so much of McGonagall it was scary. All except that Goodwitch was many, many years younger than McGonagall, and far more attractive. He was, after all, a fifteen-year-old boy.

Harry took his seat next to Pyrrha, who was flanked on her other side by Jaune, then Ren and finally Nora. Team RWBY had taken the seats on the other side of the isle to them, with Weiss being the furthest in and Ruby sat in the edge. Professor Goodwitch stood before the class, her heels clacking across the pristine floor that doubled as the sparring mat, used for demonstrations and practical assessments.

"Settle down, settle down," the professor did not need to raise her voice, for it floated to the students with unquestionable authority regardless. "Today, we are doing something a little different."

The class seemed to all sit forward at once in anticipation. It dawned on Harry, not for the first time mind you, that this really was a school for warriors. He didn't know how long he'd be here, at least until he could get what he needed, and work out exactly what that was, from Ozpin, but he was grateful for all the skills he'd learn in the meantime.

"The Vytal festival is less than three months away. As you all know, all first- and second-year teams are eligible to compete automatically. In preparation, we will be having our own little tournament today. 5-minute matches, one on one matches, with the winner advancing to the next round. The winner of the tournament is to be offered a very special prize."

Silence reigned. No one in the crowd dared to move a muscle, all tense with anticipation as to what this prize would be. Lien? Extra credit? Something else? Professor Goodwitch however, neglected to explain any further at this point. Instead, she merely began to walk up the isle of the lecture hall and opened the classroom door. "Students follow me to the gym. Once there, you will have ten minutes to change into your combat gear and warm up. Let's go."

In a massive stamped the first-year class rushed from the room and, with a barely contained excitement fell into a very fidgety group behind the professor, who was more than content to stroll to one of the school's many gyms at her own leisurely pace.

Harry was nervous. Apart from his sword, he didn't really have what you'd call 'combat gear'. He didn't have armour like Pyrrha or Jaune, nor did he have flexible or comfortable clothes made for just such an occasion, like Ruby or Ren. He had so far survived on the few sets of clothes he had been afforded the luxury to buy from the school's scholarship fund, which he had purposefully made as all-purpose as possible. Jeans, a pair of trainers and a few heavy-duty t-shirts were all he currently owned. He had also brought a nice second hand leather jacket, because if he was ever going to experiment with clothes, being stuck on a different planet seemed like the time and place.

Harry changed into the outfit he found most comfortable and practical. The leather jacket was well worn and soft, so his movement was hardly restricted by the strong material. Under the jacket he wore a simple red shirt, a white pattern etched across it. He completed the look with black jeans and trainers. He was certainly the least distinctive of all the students, but perhaps that was what he needed at the moment.

Ten minutes later they had all gathered on the gym floor, where several sparing rings had been laid out by professor Goodwitch. "Alright class, here is the first-round pairings", she said, and a large screen illuminated on one of the walls. Harry searched the projection for his name and found it about half-way down the document… right next to Jaune's.

The two boys looked at each other sheepishly. He had spoken with Jaune several times, and whilst a bit timid the boy was nice enough. Pyrrha had also told him a bit about Jaune, who was apparently a tactical thinker, but a little lacking in combat skills like himself. Crucially, she had also let slip that he too did not have a semblance.

Oh, yes. You might be wondering about Harry's magic. Surely that was his semblance? Well, you'd be wrong. His magic was something… different. Ozpin had explained it much more eloquently, after he had divulged that he already knew, or at least strongly suspected Harry's power to be magic based. His magic wasn't tied to his aura, and therefore wasn't strictly a semblance. Whether Harry would develop a semblance or not was still up in the air… but his magic wasn't it.

Not that it mattered anyway… he hadn't been able to use his magic since the day he had arrived. No matter what he tried, simple levitation or powerful fire spells, Harry had exactly zero success with anything. Coupled with his proclivity of exploding dust and well… he would be relying on his sword alone.

Harry took his position opposite Jaune. Pyrrha gave the two a caution glance as she took her place opposite a boy with a mohican whose name he didn't know. Harry spread his feet and squared his shoulder's just like he'd been taught. Jaune effectively mirrored him, it was clear they had had the same teacher.

"On my count, you may begin. Semblance's are allowed but remember the competitor with the lowest aura after five minutes will be declared the loser. Ready… 3… 2… 1".

The air erupted in sound. Gunshots, clashing metal and the grunts and growls of the students all echoed across the room. Harry immediately went on the offensive, even compared to Jaune he was behind in terms of training and especially fitness. He wouldn't win an endurance contest against a single person in the room, so he had to be quick about things.

He struck with a simple downward slash, which Jaune meet with his own blade, the vibrations ringing down both their arms. Harry broke the contact first, spinning into a low slash at Jaune's legs, which meet the boy's shield. He ducked under the counter swing and kicked off Jaune's shield, putting some distance between them.

He was panting by now; the excursion of this little melee had already got his heart pumping. Jaune seemed happy enough to fend off his attacks, perhaps realising Harry was the faster of the two if nothing else. Harry moved in again, using an attack taught to him by Diomendus. His feet seemed to float across the floor, and he dipped his left shoulder as though he meant to attack. Jaune took the bait, and Harry struck at his exposed side, feeling the blade meet the resistance of the boy's aura. He broke off again.

Jaune realised he was now losing and became a bit more aggressive. Using his shield to cover his approach, Harry was forced to block a flurry of one-handed strikes, giving ground as he did so. He reached the edge of their allocated sparring ring, and, realising he had nowhere to go, Jaune pressed his advantage. So, Harry tried something he never had before. He summoned his aura into his legs and jumped.

He leapt higher than he ever had, right over the head of his surprised opponent. He used the surprise to his advantage and swung hard at Jaune's exposed back, only for his blade to meet the metal of Jaune's shield. The block was so quick that Harry dropped his sword due to his surprise at the jarring crash of the two objects. Seeing Harry defenceless, Jaune hesitated in taking his swing that would've won the match. Harry recovered and when Jaune finally did take the swing, he was ready. Harry rolled under the strike, grabbing Excalibur in the process and slicing at Jaune's legs, breaking away further at his aura.

A loud whistle sounded, and at once all the fighting stopped. All that was left was the sound of heavy breathing and a few groans from those who had been so outmatched it was unfair. Pyrrha's and Yang's opponents both looked in particularly bad shape, whilst Nora's was nowhere to be seen.

Harry and Jaune both looked up at the screen. There it was, confirmation.

Harry had won.


	6. The Ice Queen

**Here's another chapter, I was bored on the train. One day i'll go through an edit this maybe.**

 **I don't own anything from either RWBY or Harry Potter.**

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Harry had won his first match. He still couldn't quite believe it, but it was true nonetheless.

The students had been given five minutes to rest and recuperate. Those who had been eliminated joined Goodwitch in the stands to watch the rest of the fights. Apart from Jaune, it looked like the entirety of both Team RWBY and Team JNPR had made it through to the second round, along with a scattering of students from the other first year teams.

"The next pairings have been decided," announced Goodwitch, "Find your name, ring and partner on the board and get ready for the next round!"

Harry was still breathing heavily from his first fight. His arms were quite heavy, still not used to swinging a weight sword around in the heat of combat. At least his aura felt good, Jaune had landed a few hits, but his aura meter was reading very highly, so at least he recharged quickly. He looked to the projection of the pairings once again and found his name near the top this time.

 _Potter, Harry_

Vs

 _Schnee, Weiss_

Weiss blinked, rubbed her eyes, and looked at the screen again. Surely this was wrong? Goodwitch had paired her with the new kid? She had seen him fight Jaune, who himself was no measure of a fighter, and she hadn't exactly been impressed. Yes, he was fast with that sword she would give him that… but she was faster. She was also smarter, and more experienced.

It was like Goodwitch had given her a free pass really, and this annoyed her. Surely these classes were a chance to test herself, to learn her weaknesses and strengths and how to adapt against multiple types of opponents. Instead, she had easily dispatched Sky Lark in the first round, and now she was being given Harry?

At least, she reasoned, it would be over quick. She would be in a better state than most come the next round as well, as she found it highly unlikely Harry was score any major hits on her. As she approached her designated sparring area, two other pairings caught her eye. Ren vs Blake was sure to be interesting, and, although she could only see one winner in it, Ruby vs Pyrrha would've been an interesting watch.

Weiss took her position opposite Harry. His arms seemed to be shaking slightly from the exertion of his early fight. She sighed and hoped her next opponent would be worth her time. With a flick of her wrist she spun the dust cartridge in her rapier to ice and waited for the matched to begin.

"On my mark, 3… 2… 1… begin!"

The crowd began to cheer, a mixture of voice's calling for all different people. A few were supporting the underdog just because, but most stuck to cheering on any teammates who had made it past the first round. Weiss heard no cheers for her but given the entirety of team RWBY was still in the competition, she expected that.

With barely a thought she brought her rapier up and felt the dust inside respond to her aura, commanding it to burst forth along the sharp blade. A single blast of ice rocketed from the trip, striking Harry's feet and surely immobilising him until the match was done.

Except it didn't.

The bolt of icy power struck the ground, froze around the messy haired boys' feet and then exploded, shattering into a million pieces that floated into nothingness. Harry seemed just as surprised as she was, but clearly that was a ruse, dust didn't just explode for no reason.

Perhaps there was more to the boy than she had observed?

He was now closing in on her, determined not to let her get in another free shot against him. His swings were telegraphed, and his feints even more so. She blocked, redirected or simply avoided everything he threw at her with a graceful ease. All the while she was scoring her own hits, chipping away at his aura with every bite of her sword.

Harry rolled under one of her attacks and tried to sweep at her legs in response. She jumped over the blade, summoning a glyph above the swing and using it as a platform to launch herself even higher above the shocked boy. She summoned the ice dust again, launching a second attack, this time from above, to incapacitate her opponent.

Harry dodged the attack itself, but the tendrils of ice still sprung from the floor as it made contact, one again threatening to engulf him in a freezing tomb. That was until it exploded again.

Weiss couldn't understand what was happening. There was nothing wrong with her dust casting, she was far and away the most skilled user of dust in her class. She had grown up with the stuff as common to her as water! She was a Schnee for Oum's sake!

Was it his semblance?

Harry was just as shocked as his petite opponent for a moment, and then, finally, he put two and two together. Dust didn't work around him! He made it explode for some unknown reason. Perhaps it was his magic, perhaps it was the fact he wasn't really from this world. All he knew was that dust was far too temperamental with him to be safe.

He glanced at the screen showing their Aura levels. He was running dangerously close to the red! How? He hadn't even seen Weiss score most of her hits, but then again, she glided through his defences so easily it was a miracle he hadn't lost already.

There was nothing for it, he needed a big play, and he needed it now. His opponent hadn't missed a beat as she landed, and she was currently coming towards him full pelt, propelled by one of her many glyphs. Her sword was wrapped in flames and he knew she was aiming for the killer blow as well.

He had an idea, but he only had one shot.

He steadied himself, bringing up a pointless guard against the speeding bullet of an heiress that was closing in on him. He could hardly see her she moved so fast, the unlocking of his aura had removed the need for glasses, but they wouldn't have helped anyway. He moved to block where he thought her sword would be, only to see it slip under his own blade and fly towards his shoulder. He let his left hand drop from Excalibur's hilt.

He grabbed the dust chamber of Weiss's sword.

It was a remarkable move, a combination of speed and skill born only of his days as a seeker, used to catching rapidly moving small objects. Of course, a snitch did not explode quite like the dust chamber did.

Lightning and fire, ice and earth all crashed together in a cacophony of raw, elemental power. He didn't know it, but the entire class stopped in shock as the explosion rocked the entire gym. A great cloud of black smoke obscured his view of Weiss, and he was sent crashing into the wall at the far side of the gym, he could feel his aura break as flashes of gold entered his vision.

"The winner is… Weiss Schnee" came the professors voice as the dust settled.

It was then Harry saw her, a glyph had stopped her crashing into a wall like he had. Her aura was still flashing red on screen, but where her's was dangerously low, his was gone completely. If he had landed a hit on her earlier perhaps it would've been a different story, but he accepted defeat graciously all the same.

Weiss however, was not happy. Her pristine white outfit was now covered in black suet. He hair had come lose and was falling in frazzled spirals down her snarling face.

"You idiot!" she screamed. So frustrated was she that she seemed capable of only making nonsensical screeching sounds, until Yang and Blake, who had both won their rounds, moved her away to prepare for her next match, which she was now sure to have to forfeit as her aura wouldn't be recovered enough in time.

"You know, I blew her up when we first met too" said a voice from above him. Ruby, who had lost her match to Pyrrha, was standing over him, offering him a hand up. He gladly accepted.

"Oh yeah," Harry chuckled, "How'd that turn out?"

"We're totally BFF's now."

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 **If you fancy checking out my original work, you can find me on Wattpad - PhoenixWritings. My story is an anime inspired light novel called 'The Devil's Pact'. Tah.**


	7. A New Tutor

**Another day, another chapter. Exams are coming up so obviously I am procrastinating as much as possible.**

 **I don't own any of the characters, blah blah blah.**

 **If you guys like this work, please check out my original work over on Wattpad, my username is PhoenixWritings.**

 **As always, the support and feedback you guys have shown has been amazing! We've passed 5000 reads! Keep it coming :)**

* * *

The rest of the first year's impromptu class tournament passed with little fuss compared to the events of moments ago. Weiss had indeed been forced to forfeit her quarter final match against Nora as her aura had yet to return above the 25% threshold and so she had stormed off to the showers to properly clean the soot from herself. Ruby had also assured Harry that it would come out of Weiss's dress eventually, which made Harry feel better.

The semi-finals had been brilliant. Made up entirely of representatives from RWBY and JNPR, Yang had fought Pyrrha valiantly, giving the so-called invincible girl a proper run for her money. In the end however, the red headed spartan had simply been too much for the brawler. In the other match, Blake had faced Nora. The black-haired girl's semblance had been key in the fight, which ended by virtue of the five-minute clock. Blake had managed to outlast the energetic hammer-wielder, scoring small hits and avoiding taking damage herself. In the end there was a clear difference in Aura levels, although both could still fight.

The final match of the day therefore was Pyrrha vs Blake. Both fighters zipped across the floor, making use of their speed and agility to strike, counter and parry as best they could. Despite her best efforts, it was still to no-one surprise when, four minutes, twenty-one seconds in, Pyrrha had managed to hit Blake with a shield bash, knocking her aura below the 25% threshold. Pyrrha had been declared the winner and, for her prize, the entirety of team JNPR had been made except from homework for the month.

"For everyone else," Goodwitch called over the groans after she announced the winners reward, "I expect a detailed analysis of your fights today. What did you do well, what didn't work, and where do you need to improve? These reports are due end of the week. Dismissed."

The class stood as one and began to weave their way down the stands and made their way towards the lockers and changing rooms. They had lunch now, and so there was little rush to be ready for afternoon classes. As such, many decided to return to their dorms for more private showers or a change of clothes.

"Miss Schnee!" Goodwitch called as she saw the Heiress leaving, "Mr Potter! Please remain behind for a second."

Harry paused, looked at the still disgruntled heiress, who glared back at him, and sat back down. He waited until everyone else had left before heading over to the stern teacher, who was stood by one of the gyms doors. Was he in trouble? Perhaps that stunt with Weiss had been too much? He had always fought like this at Hogwarts, but he had to remind himself that this was a different reality, and he didn't have the luck of Destiny on his side here, perhaps he would need to be a bit more cautious in the future.

"You wanted to see us professor?" Weiss said.

"Yes, I'll make this quick as I know you have places to be. Miss Schnee, you will of course be aware of just what Mr Potter did to your weapon during your fight"

"He exploded all my dust! There was several hundred lien worth in that chamber! He could've damaged my weapon… or me!" The heiress screeched.

"Yeah, uhh… sorry about that. I was just a bit out of my league, it was all I could think of. I'll pay you back for the dust… if I can? I have about fifty lien to my name right now but… one day" Harry said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and wishing, not for the first time, that his Gringotts vault had somehow been transported with him.

Weiss merely huffed and looked back at Goodwitch.

"That will not be necessary Mr Potter," Goodwitch replied, "I believe Miss Schnee will have little trouble procuring a replacement shipment, besides, this is a combat school. These things are to be expected and accounted for. No, what I wanted to discuss was why it happened."

"I presume it's his semblance."

Harry chuckled involuntarily. Weiss however turned to glare at him, as though he were mocking her response. Quite the opposite in fact, it was a perfectly good and valid assumption. "No, dust just does that when I touch it."

"What!" Weiss took an involuntary step back. "Dust isn't that volatile, you dummy! You must be doing something wrong!"

"Precisely, Miss Schnee," the professor interjected again, "the problem is, I cannot figure out what. Mr Potter has unfortunately made little progress in this regard, and dust continues to react in extreme ways around him. I however, no longer have time to personally tutor him to the level I have been to try and get him in a position to be able to use dust."

Something clicked in Weiss. "Oh no, no no, professor. I have myself to think about, and… and my team. Between studying with them and my own studies, I hardly have time for anything extra. Beside… you said it yourself. He makes dust explode! Surely, he needs to just be kept far, far away from the stuff, and me especially!"

"Miss Schnee, it does not surprise anyone that you are by far the most competent dust user in the class. However, I know that you are busy which is why I am willing to offer every member of Team RWBY 5% extra credit in their dust manipulation class if you will agree to tutor Mr Potter."

"I don't think that necessary professor." Harry protested, "I don't want anyone going to extra trouble for me, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually and… and if not well, I don't need to use dust anyway… I'll just have to be careful where I go I suppose."

"You cannot avoid dust forever Mr Potter. It is the lifeblood of our society. Huntsmen and Huntresses are founded on our ability to use Aura and Dust. You are only limiting yourself in the long run." Goodwitch spoke with an air of finality.

"Miss Schnee, I know you do not need the credit, but some of your teammates certainly could." Wait a minute was Goodwitch _blackmailin_ g the heiress? Weiss, who was adamant in her refusal moments ago now seemed to be caught in two minds. Perhaps another member of RWBY was receiving less than stellar scores in dust class?

"Fine. Two hours a week. May we use one of your workroom's professors? if he's going to explode everything in reach I'd rather he does it in a controlled space." Goodwitch nodded, and Weiss turned to Harry. "Seven o'clock tonight. Do not be late." With that, she stormed off. Harry watching as she left.

"Professor," he asked, "what was that actually about? She obviously doesn't want to spend any time with me, especially after today."

"The headmaster has made it quite clear that you are to be brought up to speed as quickly as possible. I do not know why, and I do not care to know. All I know is that if you are to continue to be a student here, you will have to work as hard or harder than everyone else." Her piece said, the older woman turned, and she too strode pridefully away. Harry watched again as she left.

A thought occurred to him. He needed to see Ozpin.

"Hey Weiss," called Ruby as the heiress joined her team and JNPR at their regular lunch table. "What did Goodwitch want?"

Weiss huffed, setting her tray down with a bit more force than she intended. "She wants me to tutor that new kid Harry on how to use dust, so it doesn't explode."

"What?" asked Ruby. "Isn't dust meant to explode?"

"Not like that you dolt!" Weiss rolled her eyes as she took a small bite of her meal. "Apparently he makes dust explode just by touching it. It's how he did what he did to Myrtenaster."

"That was sooo cool!" Ruby squealed, "you were like 'he-ya!' and he was like 'phaw!' and the n you both were like 'boom!'". She was making animated movements during her very vivid re-enactment of their battle.

"It was pretty cool" Nora joined in from across the table.

"It was reckless and dangerous!" Weiss could feel the heat on her fact from anger. How could they all support that kid's wanton destruction of her dust!

"It was indeed reckless, but nonetheless it was an effective strategy." Blake added from behind her book. Yang nodded next to her.

Weiss looked ready to explode.

"Anyway... he seems nice." Ruby said somewhat awkwardly. Weiss glared at her again. "I… I mean… Pyrrha likes him… so he can't be that bad."

"He is very kind," Pyrrha's word didn't seem to be having the desired effect, as Weiss seemed to get _more_ annoyed if that were possible.

"I'm only doing this because Goodwitch offered the entire team 5% extra credit in dust class. I wouldn't have to even be going if you just studied!" her frustration came full force at Ruby.

"Hey! No fair! Your family literally owns the largest dust company in the world, Blake uses dust in her semblance sometimes and Yang has two more years of schooling than me! Of course I'm behind a bit."

Weiss huffed again and turned to her meal. She had been telling Ruby to study harder for months! Now, she was going to suffer for it. Hopefully, she could get Harry up to scratch in only a few lessons, or at least make it so he didn't blow everything up when he touched it.


	8. Remedial Dust Lessons

**Hello Again!**

 **I don't own nothing of RWBY or Harry Potter as always.**

 **The Vytal festival will be coming up soon (Chapter 11/12 I suspect), and then the Fall of Beacon. Who would you like to see Harry fight next? Let me know in the reviews.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Five more minutes. That was all she would give him. Five more minutes.

It was currently 7:05pm, and her new student, the mysterious Harry Potter, was nowhere to be seen. She had the whole thing meticulously planned out to the minute, so that she could make the maximum progress in the two hours she had promised professor Goodwitch, and therefore keep the number of these sessions required to a minimum. That plan, it seemed, was now out the window. Still, if he didn't show she could leave even earlier, and would be able to tell Goodwitch that she _wasn't_ giving him another chance.

The door slammed open, a frazzled and out of breath Harry appeared after it. He smiled upon seeing her and slouched down so his hands supported his weight on his knees. "Oh, thank god," he panted. "I didn't know what room you were in, I've been running around this building for the last twenty minutes trying to find you."

Weiss hummed in annoyance. Was that really the best excuse he could give her? "You knew we were meeting in one of the Dust Workshops. There's only four."

"That really doesn't mean much to me. I've been here like, two weeks? I've never even been to this part of campus before today."

"Still, you're late. You also really need to work on your stamina if that's got you out of breath. This is a combat school, not daycare."

"I know," he replied softly, "I'm sorry, Yang already agreed to help me in the gym, and I'm here now and I'm ready to learn. So, where do we start?"

An uncharacteristically mischievous smirk came across the heiress's face. She had been intending to just ask him to show her his dust explosion powers. Then he had made her wait, and no-one makes a Schnee wait. "Here, take this."

She threw him a small fire crystal. On instinct, Harry reached out and grabbed the glittering gem, and almost lost his hand in the process. As soon as he made contact with the gem it combusted, the flames breathed against his aura, and the explosion felt like it was going to take his fingers off! "What the hell!" He cried.

"Wow, you really do just make it explode." Weiss remarked, almost casually.

"What if I didn't have my aura activated! I could've lost an arm!"

"You… don't know much about Aura, do you?" The heiress asked.

"I know enough. I know it isn't just always on!"

"Yes but, another aura user can sense when a person has their aura active. Can you not feel mine, now? Fighters have used the technique for centuries, you can't always see you opponent after you hit them, for example, and so you might miss their aura visible breaking."

"I… umm… oh." Harry felt his anger quell. Of course Weiss Schnee was not an idiot. "So you knew I had my aura active?"

"Yes, you dunce!" Weiss screeched indignantly, "Do you think I am a fool! Not everyone is as reckless as you! Now, sit down."

"There's no chair…"

"ON THE FLOOR YOU DUMMY!" The vein in her head was already threatening to pop. Gods why was this boy so frustrating! Sit down, it's literally the simplest command in the book. Even Zwei could do it and do it well. He was a good boy after all.

Harry immediately dropped to the floor. He sat, cross legged, and watched as Weiss took a few deep breaths, grabbed something from the table she had been standing in front of, and sat down opposite him.

"Professor Goodwitch said you hadn't been able to figure out what was causing this reaction. So, let's start at the beginning. How long has this been happening?"

Oh no. Harry had expected to pour over a few text books, maybe watch as Weiss showed him a few techniques, so he could learn the theory at least. He hadn't expected an inquisition into his history, a history he couldn't tell her about. Even if he did tell her, there was no way Weiss of all people was going to give him the benefit of the doubt given how he seemed to wind her up without even trying.

"Err… as long… as long as I can remember." He finally answered. Weiss jotted the answer in her notebook.

"So, you've had the problem _before_ you unlocked your aura?"

Well… he had sort of only had about a day before his aura was unlocked, before that he had never come into contact with dust… this world's version of dust at least. "No, I… I never encountered dust before my aura was unlocked."

"Never encountered dust? You must have grown up really far away from the kingdoms then."

"Oh, believe me I did. About as far away as you can get, actually." Harry chuckled slightly at his own inside joke.

"So, have you ever touched dust without your aura active?" Weiss leaned forward as she spoke, as though she were staring down the path of her own questioning to see the end result. There was a dangerous gleam in her eye, the same one she had when she threw the first crystal at him. It was like she saw him as an experiment, a lab rat. Harry gulped.

"I don't think so," Harry answered nervously. He could see where this was going.

"Let's try that then," Yup, he knew it.

"Have you forgotten the part where I make dust explode just by touching it. Without my aura that's going to hurt… a lot."

"Don't be silly. We'll only use a tiny sprinkling of gravity dust, worst that will happen is you hand feels a bit heavier, there's a little flash of light and your hand gets a bit hot. Hold out your hand."

Oh well, Harry though as he stretched out his palm. In for a penny in for a pound. This was going to hurt, but he'd been through much, much worse. Even as he offered Weiss his hand he could see the Pettigrew had cut along his arm to extract the blood for the ritual in the graveyard. Weiss noticed the scar too but chose not to say anything. If anyone knew about not wanting to talk about scars, it was her.

With a delicacy he didn't think she was capable of, the Schnee heiress let the tiniest pinch of purple dust fall from between her lithe fingers. Harry watched, fascinated, as the dust floated onto his skin.

He was not so mesmerised when it began to explode like firecrackers on Chinese New Year. Quickly he pulled his hand away, shaking it violently in a vain attempt to ward off the stinging pain. Weiss looked shocked.

"I don't understand." Harry gave the confused Heiress his best 'I told you so' face. "There's nothing for the dust to react to… unless… is your semblance passive, or active?"

"I... um… what?"

Weiss sighed. How this kid had ever gotten into Beacon was beyond her. She was starting to think that, between this kid and Jaune, perhaps Beacon's entry standards were far lower than even she realised. She rubbed her head, now realising she wasn't just tutoring, but babysitting as well. She had enough of that with her own partner, thank you very much. She needed to work this out and get out of here.

"A passive semblance is one that is always sort of… on… in the background. Like Nora, who gets powered up by lighting. She doesn't have to have her aura active to absorb the energy from the lightning, through it does have to be active for her to use it. Or Yang, who can store energy from punches taken even without aura. My glyphs on the other hand are an active semblance, just like Blake's, or Ruby's."

He had expected the question of semblances to come up. It was one of the reason's he had been so keen to see professor Ozpin this afternoon. He had his own ideas about the dust as well, but none that he could share with Weiss.

"Magic does not exist in our world outside of fairy tales for most people" Ozpin had told him. "Those few who know the truth of magic and wield it's power have their identities hidden, so well that not even I know their whereabouts."

Still, they had finally settled on a 'semblance' for him to have, one that would let him explain away at least part of his magical powers, assuming they ever came back. "No, mine is definitely active. I don't store anything up behind the scenes."

Weiss humped in frustration, this time more about herself than Harry. She had been so sure that the answer lay somewhere in his aura or semblance. Yet, the dust had exploded without his aura active, and his semblance was active… so what else could be left? She would need to think on this further. "I don't understand… what is it reacting too?"

Harry couldn't bare the look of utter despair on her face. This girl really didn't like not knowing something, and it reminded him too much of Hermione to not spark something in him. "Do you want to try something else… different types of dust, perhaps?"

"Yes… yes that could yield some interesting results. Hold out your hand again, I think it's best we try without aura as much as possible."

Harry sighed and extended his palm once again. Why did he always seem to put his body on the line for the damsel in distress?

"First, earth dust."

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 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, if you fancy checking out my original work, find me on Wattpad! My username is PhoenixWritings.**

 **See you soon. Next update will probably be tomorrow or the weekend.**


	9. The Disappearance of Magic

A few more weeks passed for Harry and the rest of the students at Beacon. He had spent the time wisely, a combination of structured nutrition and gym sessions with Yang, Nora and Pyrrha had helped him come a long way in terms of his physicality. He still wasn't up to the level of the better fighters in his year, but he could certainly keep up with the more average students by this point. Coupled with continued sessions with Diomendus to perfect his swordplay, and he was almost ready to say he was a proper huntsman-in-training.

His magic, on the other hand, was still non-existent. He met with Ozpin when he could, the old headmaster having taken a keen interest in his development. In fact, the only student he spent nearly as much time monitoring was Ruby, but Harry didn't quite know why.

His magic was the reason he was once again sat, alone on his floor, meditating.

"Professor, I don't understand. Why can't I use my magic? I can't even feel it!" Harry recalled his latest conversation with Ozpin.

"I know it is frustrating. I also know that this is perhaps not what you want to here, but I simple do not have the answers you seek." Ozpin words were careful and controlled, and Harry was once again reminded of Dumbledore. "That being said, I can offer a few ideas, and, without being too modest, my ideas are usually better than most."

Ozpin took a sip of his ever-present coffee and continued. "There are, as I see it, three possibilities. Number one is simple, you need a new focus. You told me about your wand, and how you used that to do magic. Perhaps you need something similar. Forgive me for applying this worlds rules to your worlds power, but have you perhaps tried using your sword? A lot of students channel aura, and even semblance through their weapons."

Harry nodded, it made sense in theory, but something still niggled at him. "That doesn't explain how I was able to use my powers at the breach without a wand?"

"Of course, but that was an exceptional circumstance. When our lives are in danger, our bodies and minds produce things we simply cannot do any other time. However, I must admit this is not my preferred theory. You would, for example, still be able to feel your magic if it just needed focus."

Harry nodded again. Ozpin was right, if he just needed to focus his magic, he should still be able to feel it inside of him. He always felt a little hollow, ever since his aura had been unlocked to aid his healing. It was though a part of him was missing.

"My second theory is that your magic is, for lack of a better word, adapting. You have just had your aura unlocked, and your magic isn't quite compatible with the new power in your body, a body it has never had to share. It may be that your magic will become more like ours, it may manifest as a semblance, or simple emerge once it has finished adapting to their new set of circumstances."

"How long do you think it'll take to adapt, if that is what's happening?" Harry asked.

Ozpin pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and replied. "I have no idea. You must understand, Mr Potter, this is a set of circumstances so unique it is almost beyond impossible. I would not like to even hazard a guess, it could be tomorrow, it could be fifty years, it could never fully adapt. I simply don't know."

There was silence in the room as Harry processed that information. Could his magic really be adapting? It was certainly possible, he had never been a magical theorist, but surely the source of magic, whatever it was, was different here in some way than it was back home. Then again, neither of them had a clue how long it might take. It seemed he would have to learn to fight without his constant companion.

"What's the third?"

"Ah yes. I think we must consider the fact it is simple gone. Absorbed or destroyed by your aura, perhaps? Or simply not accessible in this world, what you did was merely what you have left from your old world, possibly. I know it might be hard to hear, but it is perhaps the simplest answer after all."

Harry's head dropped. Of course it was gone. All the other theories were conditional, dependent on a series of circumstances as unlikely as his being here in the first place. It made sense, it was like putting an American plug in a British socket, yes, they both had electricity, but they simply didn't fit together. He had drawn from this worlds power, and so had stopped using his British plug, and now was just a two-pronged American plug.

"I hope this is not the case, Mr Potter. I don't believe it is true, magic was a part of you so intrinsically, it would be like my aura leaving me. I just can't see it ever happening. Semblances change as people do, Mr Potter, perhaps magic is the same. Take some time, do the exercises I have shown you to work on your aura control, and we will cross whatever bridges may come."

Harry breathed deeply. He let the memories of the conversation wash over him, and relaxed. Meditating for aura control was a lot like the occlumency exercises Hermione had tried to show him. Breath in, breath out. Feel the energy in your body. His aura sparked across his skin, a slightly painful, slightly pleasant feeling. He worked past the feeling, searching for the more familiar warm glow that was his magic. It was the feeling he'd felt the first time he held a wand, or the first time he'd cast a true Patronus, like sinking into a hot bath.

Breath in, breath out. He flexed his aura, expanding it, and contracting it. He focused it into his right hand, then his left leg, then back across his body. He still couldn't find his magic. Yet… there was something. A sensation, always behind him it seemed, like he was being watched, or, more correctly, watched over. Was that his magic?

"Help me!" Ruby's voice shattered his peaceful meditation. The door to his single dorm crashed open, and the red blur that was the leader of team RWBY darted into the room.

"Ruby! Give me back my book!" Blake Belladonna appeared at his door. He hadn't had that much contact with the raven-haired girl, she wasn't the most social of people after all. Harry wasn't a go out and about guy himself, but he'd had Yang helping him in the gym, Weiss and her dust lessons, and he and Ruby were the only people of the same age, so they had bonded over that a few times as well. He was close enough with them all to call them friends at least.

Ruby had hidden directly behind the now standing Harry, who was frozen in confusion. Caught as he was in his pyjamas, still shocked by the pairs sudden appearance. "This is filth! FILTH!" Ruby cried as she waved the book from behind him.

"It's just a book Ruby!" Blake was blushing heavily now. Wow, the girl really was reading filth, as Ruby called it. "Plus, you read the first one as well!"

"That's why I need this one!" Ruby moaned, "I finished the first one! Harry, tell her!"

"Umm… what?" Were they arguing over who got the read the filthy book first? He couldn't keep up.

"I haven't finished it yet! You can have it after!"

"I wanna read it now!" the young leader pouted.

Blake sighed, but she wasn't about to give in. "Ruby, no. That's not how sharing works. Now give it back!"

Ruby grabbed the pillow from his bed, a vicious look in her eyes. "You want it… come take it".

Yang appeared and handed Blake a pillow. Where had she even… it didn't matter. All he knew was his dorm was about to become a battleground. The black-haired girl leaped into Harry's dorm, charging at Ruby with her pillow raised high. Ruby similarly charged, both girls letting out a war cry as they headed straight for one another.

Harry stepped away from the battle, closed the door, and left them too it. He would see what JNPR was doing for a few hours.

* * *

 **There you go guys and girls! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've written up to chapter twelve so far, and the Vytal festival has officially begun. As you all know, that means the Battle of Beacon is just around the corner! Let me know in the comments who you would like Harry to fight?**

 **\- Adam**

 **\- Cinder**

 **\- Grimm Dragon**

 **\- Someone else?**


	10. A Spark

**Hello all, thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. So far, looks like Harry will be fighting the Grimm Dragon, I can see it in my head already! I'm excited to write the Battle of Beacon, and we're well on our way there now. Do remember to leave a comment on who you'd like to see Harry fight!**

 **Coming up... Harry get's a much needed power boost, we have some bonding with Blake, and Weiss gets a shock.**

 **As always, this chapter is unbeta'd. If you spot any mistakes (which you will, sorry) let me know.**

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"You felt something, you say?"

Harry was out of breath. A surprisingly common occurrence these days, despite the backbreaking fitness regime his friends had him on in the gym. He didn't care about that now however, he had far more important things on his mind.

"Yes, it was… different, but it was there!" Harry couldn't contain the smile on his face.

"Different?" Ozpin pressed, although he too had jumped up from his chair. There was an eager energy around the usually calm man.

"Yeah, I don't know how to describe it exactly. It felt, cowed, distant? It was like my magic was split, perhaps? I really don't know how to describe it beyond different."

"This is excellent news Mr Potter. Please, tell me everything that lead to this discovery."

Harry cast his mind back to the events of the past few days.

It had actually all started with an idea from Blake. After her and Ruby had finished destroying his room the other day, the two had struck up a conversation. Ruby had long disappeared, lured away from the entire battle by Weiss promising cookies if she studied that night, but Blake had offered to help him put his room back into some sort of orderly shape.

"So, it's a book about a man with two souls?"

"Yeah, both fighting for control of his body. They both have the same goals, but different ideas on how to achieve it. One is a violent extremist, the other believes in a more peaceful process." Blake explained as she picked up the various… were those bullet casings?

"How does he even get two souls in the first place?"

"The extremist actually is the cause of that. He attacked a group on innocent civilians, one of which happened to be a powerful witch. With her dying breath, she cursed that he would learn the error of his way. Then another bomb went off early, killing him. He was reincarnated into the other man's body. However, it now looks as though he might be winning the battle for control. The other man still thinks it's all in his head, and so he's not truly fighting against the other soul… Hopefully he realises properly in the sequel." He had never heard Blake speak with such passion. It really did remind him of Hermione, and especially the way his bushy haired friend talked about Hogwarts: A History. A pang of sorrow struck at his gut.

"Wow, that's quite a story. I can see why Ruby wanted to read the sequel so badly." Harry smiled at the girl as he put the last of the pillows (all two of them!) back on his bed.

"Yeah that… that's not the book Ruby was trying to read."

Harry glanced at the book still held firmly in Blake's hand.

 _Ninjas of Love: Even More Love Ninjas_

Oh.

"Oh."

"Yeah…" Blake blushed again, ducking her head low. "Anyway, sorry about your room… bye!" Then she was gone, a shadow fading where she had just seconds ago stood. That really was a cool semblance.

The conversation with Blake slipped to the back of his mind until the next day, when he had his weekly lessons with Weiss. The two of them still weren't exactly getting along, sometimes his ignorance about things irritated her, and her haughty attitude didn't quite sit right with him. Still, the worked more than they bickered, and it had lost most of the venom from those first frosty weeks.

"So, the Vytal festival starts next week, how's team RWBY looking? I've seen JNPR this week in practice and they're looking pretty good, even Jaune has improved massively. I wouldn't want to come up against them."

"Team RWBY is more than prepared for anyone we are drawn against," Weiss spoke with confidence, and a slight edge of arrogance. "Even if our leader is a bit of a dolt, I can't deny she, and everyone else on the team, has been working very hard these past few months. Now be quiet, we need to work on this aura exercise."

"How will this help again?"

Weiss sighed. "For the tenth time, I just want to see what happens."

"We know what happens, it explodes." Harry deadpanned. Weiss was not impressed.

"Just, shut up and to focus your aura into your right hand and touch the dust with your left."

Harry breathed in and closed his eyes. He could now feel his aura in an instant. He could also now feel Weiss's, barely active just above her skin, just enough to protect her from any sparks, but not enough to drain a significant amount of her energy. For some reason, he thought back to Blake's words.

 _He thinks it's all in his head._

What if it was all in _his_ head? His magic wasn't gone, so much as Harry had stopped using it for some reason. Wandless magic was supposed to be impossible for all but the most powerful wizards, and he certainly was no Dumbledore… but he had used wandless magic when he arrived here, why couldn't he do it again? What if he was searching for the wrong thing? What if…?

"Harry, your aura?" Weiss interrupted.

He opened his eyes, the golden gleam of his aura, which he was purposefully working to make visible, so Weiss would know when she could sprinkle the dust, was still covering his entire body. "Sorry, got distracted."

He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes again. He felt the spark of his aura across his skin and… what was that? A black mist came over his vision, his scar started to burn. What was happening?

"RETURN ME HOME!" The mist screamed, the cold voice unmistakable. How was it possible?

Then he saw it, hidden by the mist. His magic! He could feel it's comforting glow, smothered by the evil black mist that burned in his scar. Harry reached for his magic, grabbing a hold of it with both hands. The power flowed through him.

"Harry!" He heard Weiss scream, somewhere off in the distance. He paid her no attention. He tugged on the glow of his magic, wrestling with the mist for his own power.

"NO!" The evil blackness screamed. Harry baulked, how was this possible! How was he here? Was this the curse that connected them?

"HARRY POTTER!" There was a sense of true fear in Weiss's voice. He tugged harder on his magic, and the mist only sunk its ethereal claws deeper.

Pain erupted all over his body. His eyes shot open involuntarily. The connection with his magic was broken, and he once again was left feeling hollow. He was on the floor, pinned by one of Weiss's glyphs. The heiress herself stood in the corner, he sword raised and aura flaring… had he attacked her?

"I… I'm…" Harry stuttered. He didn't have a clue what had just happened.

Weiss just looked at him, wide eyed and shaking. She couldn't even begin to process what she had just seen the boy before her do.

"I'm sorry." Harry said, before bolting from the room. He had to see Ozpin.

"Miss Schnee is unharmed?" Ozpin asked as Harry finished his story.

"A bit shaken up, but she was fine when I left. More scared than anything, as am I in all honesty." Harry admitted.

"I don't blame you. So, you believe this... Voldemort… is somehow here as well?"

Harry thought about it. It wouldn't honestly surprise him if the man had somehow managed to follow him across dimension out of spite if nothing else, but it just didn't feel quite like the answer. "I don't think so. It's more like the book Blake was telling me about. I think… I think there's a piece of him inside my scar."

Ozpin sipped at his coffee, his eyes dark. "I see." He took a moment to ponder on this development. That there was a piece of an apparently evil megalomaniacs soul attached to possible one of the most powerful people in Remnant was, disturbing to say the least. He would need to watch Harry even more closely. "And this piece of him is hiding your magic from you, somehow?"

"Not all of it," Harry smirked. His magic had indeed changed to fit this worlds rules. It seemed more elemental, more designed around base concepts, he doubted he could cast a reparo, or a tickling charm for example. But fire, lightning, concussion and paralysis spells seemed possible. He couldn't actually do any of them yet, nothing, except one spell.

He stretched out his hand, focused his mind and breathing. He grabbed the tiny echo of power he had wrestled from the black mist and shaped it into a spell.

A shimmering shield of energy formed before him.

Harry smiled. Ozpin smiled too, but his excitement was tempered by caution. He had seen this end badly before.


	11. The Vytal Festival Begins

**Finally, we get to the Vytal festival. Just a few more chapters till the Battle of Beacon, and Harry's first real fight against the forces of darkness!**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter... the next one is already done, I will be uploading it probably Wednesday to give myself some time and get back ahead of the story again with a few more chapters written and ready to go.**

* * *

It was finally time. The Vytal festival was upon them. Harry had been in this world roughly three months now, and his skills and abilities continued to develop at a speed that shocked even him. He had worked on summoning his shields day and night, and he could now do it in an instant. It didn't matter really, but it was nice to have the extra trick up his sleeve. In a few days, the festival would be over, and school a few weeks after that. Summer would come and go, and then he would finally be placed in his own team!

He couldn't help by be excited by the festival, even though it had little meaning to him outside of what the others had told him. Still, it was a chance to watch some of the most promising huntsmen and huntresses in training battle it out, what wasn't there to be excited about. Perhaps he and his team would compete next year?

Despite his excitement, his last lesson with Weiss was still causing him trouble internally. Things had been odd the first few days they had seen each other, and although the others sensed the tension, no one really commented on it. Weiss have evidently not told them exactly what had happened in their lesson, and for that Harry was thankful. Soon everything was almost back to normal, except Weiss had stopped their lessons, and he had yet to find a chance to speak to her alone.

He would have to wait a few more days it seemed, for both team RWBY and JNPR had been largely absent from his life these past weeks, apart from meals and class they had spent their days refining their combat strategies down to a tee. Harry had caught glimpses of both teams' strategies when he worked in the gym or sparring areas, but he had yet to see either in full flow.

Amenity colosseum was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The technology of this world was already far more advanced that he had been used to back home, but this was just showing off at this point! The entire colosseum, the full five tier structure, capable of holding some hundred thousand people… was floating! It was as if someone had picked the Quidditch World Cup stadium from the ground and instead left it floating in the sky! The power of dust never ceased to amaze Harry, and although he still couldn't use it, he had actually made progress with it. He could hold a crystal for all of two seconds before it decided to just combust on its own, so, baby steps were being made.

"Yeah! Go team RWBY!" Jaune's voice was easily lost in the chorus of fans screams and shouts that echoed around the arena. Harry had come up with team JNPR on the airship, and, although they were due to fight later this afternoon, they had all agreed supporting team RWBY, and getting a look at the competition, was more important than a final strategy session.

"Break their legs!" Nora screamed joyously as the match began. Harry was relatively quiet, quite in awe of the prowess all four girls were displaying down in the ring. Weiss was especially effective with her glyphs, and Blake was just using her clones to toy with the enemy. Yang, as always, had elected to simply hit her opponent until they went away. Ruby was… being Ruby.

The match passed quickly for Harry, who hadn't felt a crowd this excited since the aforementioned world cup. All too soon it was over, an excellent team move involving all four of the girls and ending with Yang obliterating three of their opponent's aura, had sealed the win for team RWBY.

Harry got up to go and congratulate the girls. "You guys coming?"

"I think we should go and prepare for our match," said Pyrrha to the nods of her teammates. "Perhaps we'll have time to meet you at the fairground before our match though. It would be nice to congratulate team RWBY on their excellent victory."

"Alright, I'll catch up with you all later!" Harry waved JNPR away before heading in the opposite direction. He clambered down the final few steps and onto the walkway that allowed the fighters into the arena.

"Hey guys!" Harry called as he spotted the tired looking team RWBY leave the arena. "What a fight! Wow! You guys did great!"

The four girls turned to face him when they heard his voice. Ruby blushed slightly at his praise of her team. All the other girls smiled, even Weiss, though her's was a little more reserved.

"Thanks Harry," Blake said.

"C'mon, let's head down to the fairground, I could do with getting away from the arena for a few hours." Yang's suggestion was met with approval, and the four girls plus Harry headed towards the air docks, catching one of the frequently running atlas transports.

They landed some ten minutes later and set about exploring the fairground. "I know just the place!" Yang said when it became clear that everyone, Harry included, was positively starving.

"Might be hard to eat without this!" A voice behind them laughed. A girl with green hair that Harry had never seen before was holding a wallet full of lien. Ruby, immediately recognising, began to pat herself down.

"Thanks Emerald!" Ruby said relievedly. "Gosh, lady pockets are just the worse."

The entire team seemed to know the girl, for they soon made their way over to the conversation. Harry hung back, something didn't quite sit right with him. All five of the girls were chatting quite happily however, and nothing happened to give Harry further cause for suspicion. Still, as the girl left to join her steel haired teammate, Harry couldn't help but follow their movements until they were out of site.

"Hey, Harry," Yang was waving her hand in front of his face. "Remnant to Harry… Hello!"

"Sorry, I was daydreaming a bit there." He laughed off the girl's concern. "Let's eat."

Soon enough were all sat around a stall that sold noodles. Everyone ordered 'the regular', except Blake, who seemed to know the vendor. She gave him a nod, and seconds later a bowl topped with fried fish was sitting before her. The girl's eyes widened, and her mouth hung open, drooling.

"Awh Weiss, what's the occasion?"

"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round," the heiress replied, handing over a shining blue credit card, emblazoned with the SDC logo. Harry reached into his own pocket to pull out his lien, he wasn't part of the team after all. Weiss saw his movements and, even though she hesitated when she spoke, her words were kind. "And for supporting us." She was offering to pay for him as well.

All was well until her card was declined. Blake's fish bowl was taken away from her, and Harry didn't have enough to cover them all. It all seemed lost until Pyrrha arrived, her timing perfect as usual.

"Perhaps I can help?"

Kind words were said, and both teams delved deep into their bowls once Pyrrha's card went through. Harry would've offered to pay her back, but given she was sponsored by Remnant's most popular children's cereal, she could afford it much more than he could, living off Beacon's fund as he was. He really did need a way to make a bit more money, perhaps a job over the summer would be good?

Team JNPR was called to their match all too soon, and the nine of them left the noodle vendor with nine empty bowls and a very full bank account. Had they not been fighting next, Harry suspected that Nora would've gone through another bowl or two of the stuff, which he had to admit to liking more than he thought he would.

"Do you… do you guys need help preparing for the doubles?" Harry offered as he walked with team RWBY towards the airship to take them back to the colosseum.

"No offence Harry but we've been teaching _you_ these past few months, I don't see how you could help us. Besides, you don't even have a partner." Yang answered.

It was true that Harry still didn't consider himself anywhere near the level of any member of team RWBY, but he'd been dying to try out his new shield magic in an actual combat scenario, and the surprise was sure to even the odds, at least momentarily. "True, but we haven't sparred in ages. The last time I fought Weiss was when I blew up her dust in the tournament, and I've never fought you with my weapon Yang, just hand-to-hand stuff."

"Still, two against one isn't very fair Harry," Blake pointed out.

Harry was about to offer his own counterpoint when Ruby spoke excitedly. "No, it's perfect. You guys are going to be fighting new opponents, you won't know them as well as you know mine or Blake's style."

"It's still two against one, and Harry has yet to even challenge a single one of us." Weiss added her thoughts.

"True," Harry admitted, "but what if you fought all three of us?"

"Yes!" Ruby cried, "nothing builds teamwork like impossible odds!"

Yang rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Weiss was looking at Harry with apprehension, but without revealing what had happened in their session, she couldn't offer a reason not to fight him. "Fine."

Had he really scared her that much? What had he done in that workshop?


	12. Training

**Hello all! Are you ready too see Harry test his new skills? I sure am!**

 **You'll have to bare with me over the next few weeks, Masters exams are no joke apparently! I'll try and get you out a chapter a week still, then a more regular schedule again once exams are done.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Team JNPR had one their fight handily, in the end not a single member of the team, not even Jaune, had been eliminated in their fight. Harry had also learned to be very, very scared of Nora, and to never, ever hit her with anything electrical. Team SSSN had also got through, though the margin was much closer than JNPRs. In a day of surprises, Harry had also learnt that Neptune, the ultimate smooth sailor, was afraid of water.

Dinner had come and gone, and the majority of students had retired to the dorms the days excitement. Team RWBY however were currently in the schools largest sparring gym, their auras had been linked to the big screen by a small, ingestible pill that wore off after half an hour and there were just about ready to begin.

Initially, Harry had been very confused by the choice of Weiss and Yang for the doubles round. Surely there were other combinations that made more sense? Yang and Blake, or Weiss and Ruby would've been his first thought, given that as partners they surely worked even better together than any other combination. The more he fought about it however, the more it made sense. Weiss and Yang seemed to cancel each other's weaknesses, Yang could take and dish the damage that Weiss could not, and the heiress provided unmatched versatility and precision with her semblance and use of dust.

"And you're sure it doesn't explode anymore?" Blake asked nervously as she loaded ice dust into Gambol Shroud.

Harry chuckled. "No, it still explodes, but I have to actually be holding it for a few seconds at this point. Whatever's causing it seems to be diminishing, albeit slower than I'd like."

"Alright team and Harry, listen up!" Ruby called from the centre of the room. "Today's match is Yang and Weiss vs Ruby, Blake and Harry!"

"We don't need an announcer you dolt, let's just get this started so we can actually get some practice in." Weiss snapped at the younger girl.

"Right, Blake and Harry will start, and I'll tag in as necessary. The goal of this session is to test Yang and Weiss's teamwork! Let's go!" Ruby zoomed away with her semblance, and just like that the match had started.

He and Blake had already agreed to try and separate the two girls from the beginning, to see how they would react to being unable to fight as a team. Blake would take Weiss to start, and that meant Harry was left with Yang. The blonde brawler smirked cockily as she stood opposite him and gave Harry a cheeky wink as Ruby called for the match to begin.

Harry started quick. Summoning his energy into his legs, he leapt across the sparring floor, closing the distance between himself and Yang rapidly. Normally he'd have fought her from a distance, but his lack of ranged weapon didn't allow for that strategy. Yang, smile still on her face, reacted quickly, and unleashed several blasts towards him from her gauntlets.

It was now or never, the moment of truth and trial by fire as it was. Harry brought his hand up before him, summoning his magical shield. "Protego!" he cried. It wasn't necessary anymore to use words, but it seemed to help him concentrate on the spell in the split seconds where it mattered. He was working to break the habit, but it would take time.

The shield held firm, and a cloud of smoke kicked up from the impact of the blasts against it. Harry carried on his forward charge, hidden in the smoke. He leapt high in the air to make his final attack, catching Yang by surprise as he descended on her from above.

"How?" Yang asked as she rolled away from his strike. She hadn't seen him dodge the blasts, and his aura reading was still at 100, so he hadn't just tanked them either.

"I told you!" said Harry, reviling in his new power. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve!"

Harry pressed his advantage. The speed drills he had spent the past months doing day in day out were paying dividends, and he weaved in and out of Yang's range, striking rapidly against her solid defence. He didn't score a hit, but he was on top for now at least.

One over-extended attack changed that however. Yang grabbed his wrist and flipped him away from her, his breath violently leaving his body as he crashed onto the hard floor. He rolled away from her follow up attack, but he was now firmly on the defensive. He ducked, dodged and dived under the blonde's fists. She had been helping him with this for weeks now, and so he soon spotted one of her patterns. Left, right, kick, right, uppercut, left and… there! Harry parried the strike with his sword, sending the shotgun blast into the floor where he had stood seconds ago. He knew where her next strike was going to come and raised a shield to meet it.

Yang, who had been smirking in seeing his guard open like it had was now shocked as a translucent blue dome of energy stopped her hand from hitting her exposed opponent. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, but the moment's hesitation was enough.

"Gotcha!" Harry smirked. He ranked his sword against her aura as she skipped away from him, taking it down by a good twenty points.

"What was that!" she cried.

"Spoilers!" Harry replied. He knew that trick wouldn't work again though, and so he switched tactics again. "Blake, switch!" and he leapt backwards, into the spot where moments before Blake and Weiss had been locked sword to sword. Blake was no longer there, so she had clearly heard his command.

He now found himself face to face with Weiss. The girl's eyes widened upon seeing him, but only for a moment. They soon settled back into their usual steely determination, flashing brightly at him.

"I won't hurt you." Harry whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. He still didn't know what had gone down in that workshop, but he needed her to know he would never hurt her intentionally, and this was the first time they had been somewhat alone since then.

"Oh," she said fiercely, "I know you won't."

White glyphs appeared around him, one by one until he was entirely surrounded. Weiss launched herself from one to another, each move faster than the next until Harry couldn't keep up anymore. Once she reached full speed she struck, once, twice, three times. Harry tried to block, but he was simply guessing where she was going to come from, so fast was the white blur.

He glanced at his aura meter, it was going down by the second. Another strike barely missed his throat, scratching his aura level down by another three points. He needed to stop this, and fast. Harry crouched down between attacks and began to focus his magic. He heard the heiress launch off another glyph, no doubt aimed straight at him. Harry summoned a shield around him, encasing himself in a semi-transparent blue dome. He both heard and felt Wiess impact the shield, and the cry she gave as her attack bounced right off it.

"What!" she cried.

Harry did exactly what he'd done to Yang. He pressed his advantage. With another reckless leap he charged his opponent. Weiss darted away, and shot a blast of ice dust at him, which he just about raised Excalibur to block. A black glyph formed at his feet, and he leaped to the side. Weiss however had predicted this, and a second black glyph appeared behind him. Before he could even register it however, he was being struck directly in the chest by the pristine, and very sharp heeled, boots of Weiss Schnee.

Harry fell back through the glyph, and a sound buzzed across the room.

His aura had dropped below fifteen. He was out.

"Ruby!" he called, but it was unnecessary. The red bullet was already streaking towards Weiss, who could only roll away from the attack, avoiding it by a hair's breadth. Blake was faring well against Yang, the two so familiar with each other's style that it was impossible to break the deadlock. Harry's strikes had lowered the blonde's aura however, and so she simply couldn't outlast the combined attacks of Ruby and Blake, who switched up to working as a team to take the two down. Both Blake and Yang had been eliminated by the time Ruby scored the winning hit on Weiss.

"So, err, what was that?" Yang asked Harry as they rested on the cooling floor after the fight.

Harry, of course, knew what she was on about. Still, it would be fun to make them wait a little longer. "What was what?"

"Don't play dumb! That… that thing you did with the… thing!"

"Oh, you mean my semblance?" Harry said nonchalantly. It was the cover story he and Ozpin had come up with. It would do for now, Harry's magic wasn't yet anywhere near that which Ozpin had described others in this world had, and so his simple shield spell could easily pass as a semblance.

"You never mentioned it before? That's so cool! What can you do!" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Well, it just never came up. My semblance is energy projection. I can summon or project energy into shields to take hits I would otherwise be taking." Harry explained. He had rehearsed this in his head since he had decided to use it in combat against RWBY that morning.

"Can you make anything else?" Ruby pressed. "Like in video games! Like… like… Can you push people with it… or move things?"

"It's energy projection you dolt, not telekinesis." Weiss tried to reign the small girl's excitement in. She wouldn't be sleeping for hours if she stayed like this!

Harry gave his own smirk, getting up from the floor and heading to the showers. He couldn't give away all his secrets now, even if he wanted to. He had been warned by Ozpin how rare magic was, how he would be hunted for his powers by dark forces that remained a mystery even to the headmaster. He trusted the members of team RWBY, but some of them, Ruby especially, tended to blurt things out. Still, he could wet their appetite.

"Oh, I'm sure one day I'll be able to do more than shields. It's still quite new, y'know." Harry waved as Ruby's mouth dropped open even further. She tried to splutter out something, but he was already gone.

"Well," Yang said from the floor, "that was a thing."


End file.
